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8 Most Annoying Things You Can Say to a Homeschooling Mom

What's
the best thing about homeschooling your kids? It's hard to say. Maybe
it's the joy of watching your children learn in a creative, hands-on
environment customized just for their learning style and interests. Nahhh,
it's actually the stupid questions people ask you. A lot of people out
there who know nothing about homeschooling sure to have some
surprisingly strong opinions about it, right? Here's our favorite things you should never say to a homeschooling mom.

1. Are you, like, wicked religious?
Okay, some parents choose to homeschool for religious reasons. But
parents choose homeschooling for a whole range of reasons -- most often
because they believe it's the best way to educate their kids. A lot of
the time, homeschooling has nothing to do with religion.

2. I would never assume I was qualified enough to teach my child.
Who says homeschooling parents do all the teaching by themselves?
Homeschoolers aren't all spending six hours at home bent over books --
it's often more creative than that. There are communities that do
lessons together, tutors you can hire. There's a whole range of
resources.

3. Don't you want your kid to have any friends? It's homeschooling, not prison. Kids can still participate on soccer teams, take music lessons, join Girl Scouts, play at the park with the other children. And there's no guarantee kids will always make friends at their school. Ever heard of bullying?

4. How do you stand spending so much time with your kids?
I could never spend so much time with my kids! First of all,
homeschooled kids aren't necessarily spending all their time with their
parents. Secondly... I'm sorry you don't like spending time with your
kids.

5. I can't even get my kids to clean their rooms. How do you get your kids to do their school work? Um... sounds like someone needs to work on their parenting skills.

6. Hey kid, what's the capital of Kansas? What's Pi?
How do you measure the radius of a circle? Who was America's first
president? How do you spell discombobulation? How many fingers am I
holding up? Um, thanks for those "gotcha!" questions. It's true. We just
sit around all day doing macrame and singing folk songs and now my kids
know nothing. Your brilliant quizzing scheme exposed us. Here's my
phone so you can call CPS.

7. Good luck getting your kid into college. Yeah... don't think that's going to be a problem. Your kid, on the other hand...

8. And best of all: WHAT ABOUT SOCIALIZATION? So,
what about it? Like the whole amazing world we explore isn't enough for
my kid, he has to spend six hours a day inside a room with 35 other
children every day or he'll grow up a mushroom.

What are the most annoying things you've heard people say about homeschooling?

Not really annoying, but definitely the weirdest, was in a waiting room before we were even homeschooling. Ds was with me to get some lab work done, and this lady a few seats down asks how old he is, what grade he's in, etc. Well, I have to answer the grade for him, because at his Montessori school they named the levels by trees. After hearing that he went to a different type of school, she gets all smug with this smirk, looks away and says "Well, we always preffered to make sure our kids were in the real world, so they could, ya know, actually learn something, not be sheltered forever." Um, weren't you just talking with my 5yo and telling me how smart he is? So I said, while smiling, "I do believe we're sitting in the real world in this very moment, don't you? He's not sheltered from anything beneficial." She must have been upset because she stopped talking, and when the nurse came out to apologise to the full waiting room for how long our wait was, this woman lost her mind. She yelled that the woman and the receptionist were the most horribly rude people ever, stomped out and slammed the door. We all just looked at each other, then started laughing.

Good stuff. Except for number 2. The answer doesn't really go with the question. Yes there are communities and yes people outsource but that's not what makes me "qualified". I'm qualified because I am their parent.

Good stuff. Except for number 2. The answer doesn't really go with the question. Yes there are communities and yes people outsource but that's not what makes me "qualified". I'm qualified because I am their parent.

I am a stay at home, home educating, non-vaxing, mother to many children :) And a very happy wife to a wonderful man!!!

I've told this story before I believe. Most annoying thing said to me was said by someone I've known since high school and it eventually ended our friendship. I hadn't seen her since graduating until about 10 yrs later when our daughters were in a preschool tumbling class together. The girls hit it off and became best friends so we ended up hanging out togther a lot. She knew the trouble we were having with DS's school and how hard I was trying to find a solution. When we decided to homeschool, she flat out told me that the only reason people homeschool is because they are too lazy to get up and get their kids ready for school.

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